This invention relates to a pick-up head assembly, that is, an apparatus for picking up small objects such as ICs for transporting them by a short distance in order, for example, to unload them from a container and to deposit them at specified positions on circuit boards. More particularly, this invention relates to a pick-up head assembly which can pick up such small objects more efficiently.
Prior art pick-up head assemblies which are currently available commercially such as MT Series produced by Tenryu Technics, KC-800 produced by Juki Kabushiki Kaisha and YM66S produced by Yamaha Hatsudoki Kabushiki Kaisha are generally comprised of but one tubular member which is connected to a vacuum pump and is supported vertically and rotatable around its own axis such that a small object can be picked up by the negative pressure communicated through its hollow interior and deposited at a desired orientation by rotating the tube before releasing the object. For this purpose, there is also provided a mechanism for moving the tube vertically upward and downward.
With a prior art pick-up head assembly of this type, only one object such as an IC can be picked up at one time. In situations where there are a large number of objects to be individually picked up and transported, it is not efficient to pick them up only one at a time.